Big Bend Tunnel
John Henry Historical Park
3263 WV 3
Talcott, West Virginia
A Haunted Southern Book of Days–12 September
This article is a part of an occasional blog series highlighting Southern hauntings or high strangeness associated with specific days. For a complete listing, see “A Haunted Southern Book of Days.”
Guess I’ll die with a hammer in my hand, Lord, Lord.
–“John Henry,” traditional folksong
Many stories, songs, and legends celebrate John Henry, an African American steel driver endowed with massive muscles and extraordinary brute strength. As a steel driver, John Henry wielded a hammer to cut holes in solid rock that were utilized for planting explosives to blast away the rock. His death came after a demonstration pitting his strength against a steam-powered rock drill. After beating the machine, John Henry’s heart gave out and he died.
Painting “John Henry lies dead after beating the steam drill” by Palmer Hayden. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum.
Most details of John Henry’s story have been lost as the story has passed into legend. Indeed, there is still disagreement about where his final labor was performed. Some scholars have suggested that it was here at the Big Bend or Great Bend Tunnel just outside Talcott, West Virginia. Near a large bend in the Greenbrier River, this tunnel was blasted through Big Bend Mountain for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad (C&O) starting in 1870. Completed in 1873, the tunnel extends roughly a mile and a quarter long though the mountain, preventing trains from having to navigate seven miles around the mountain.
Big Bend Tunnel, 2023, by Theresa Racer-Cheshire. All rights reserved.Interior of the Big Bend Tunnel, 2023, by Theresa Racer-Cheshire. All rights reserved.
The tunnel officially opened on 12 September 1873, though additional work was required on its interior. The inside was originally supported by timber beams, with the red shale constantly cracking and falling into the shaft. According to Rosemary Ellen Guiley, an entire train crew was killed by one collapse. Within several years, more work was ordered to shore up the walls by lining the entirety of the tunnel with six-million bricks.
Guiley tells the story of one of the brick masons working on the tunnel, Alfred Owen. As he finished work one afternoon, he began to hear the clink of a hammer. Looking around, he spied a dark figure swinging a hammer near the opening. As the figure continued to work, Owen attempted to sneak by towards the exit. After slipping on wet rocks, he looked up and the figure had vanished.
John Henry statue erected next to the entrance to the Big Bend Tunnel in 1972. Photo 2007, by jpmueller99. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
In 1972, a local civic organization erected a statue and plaque next to this tunnel honoring John Henry. According to local legend, not long after the tunnel opened reports began to circulate speaking of the sounds of the folk hero’s hammer striking the iron stakes. Sometimes the chant of Henry’s fellow workmen are heard continuing to encourage him. Even in death, John Henry is still swinging his hammer.
Sources
Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Big Book of West Virginia Ghost Stories. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2014.
Old 97 Wreck Site Riverside Drive (US 58 BUS) between Farrar Street and Highland Court
Danville, Virginia
They give him his orders at Monroe, Virginia,
Saying, “Steve, you’re way behind time,
“This is not 38, but it’s Old 97,
“You must put her into Spencer on time.”
He looked round and said to his black, greasy fireman,
“Just shovel in a little more coal.
And when we cross that White Oak Mountain,
You can watch Old 97 roll.”
It’s a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville, And a line on a three-mile grade. It was on this grade that he lost his air brakes; You can see what a jump he made.
He was going down the grade making 90 miles an hour,
When the whistle broke into a scream.
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle,
And was scalded to death by the steam.
And then a telegram come to Washington station,
This is what it read,
“Oh, that brave engineer that run 97,
“He’s a lyin’ in old Danville dead.”
Oh, now all you ladies better take a warning,
From this time on and learn.
Never speak harsh words to your true-loving husband,
He may leave you and never return.
–“The Wreck of Old 97,” by G. B. Grayson and Henry Whitter
This old, Appalachian ballad obscures the true horror of the events of September 27, 1903 behind a jaunty, cheerful tune and lyrics that hardly echo the true tragedy that occurred in this ravine next to the Dan River. Indeed, the song’s lyrics do not accurately describe the accident.
On that warm Sunday, Southern Railway’s Fast Mail, or “Old 97,” as it was affectionately dubbed, met with several delays leaving Washington, D.C. on its journey south to Atlanta. This did not bode well for the Southern Railway’s reputation or its bottom line. The Fast Mail was generally known for running on time, in fact many residents along the route set their watches by the train’s regular schedule; plus, the company would face steep fines from the U. S. Postal Service for delivering the mail late.
The delays in leaving Washington caused the train to pull into its scheduled stop in Monroe, Virginia nearly an hour late. At this stop the train changed engines and crews. Engine No. 1102, which had been delivered to the railroad just a month previous, was quickly coupled with the rest of the short mail train consisting of a tender (loaded with coal to fuel the engine), two postal cars, an express car, and a baggage car at the end. In the postal cars mail sorters collected the bags of mail along the route and sorted it to insure it reached the proper destination. The express car carried freight including a crate of live canaries on this particular trip; while the baggage car carried additional mail that had been previously sorted, and the train’s safe.
Technical drawing for Engine No. 1102 that pulled Old 97 on that fateful day in 1903.
At Monroe, Joseph Andrew Broady, known by his nickname, “Steve,” was put in charge as engineer. Responsible for overseeing the actual operation of the locomotive, he set the speed and operated the brakes when necessary. Steve Broady had been hired by the railway only recently. Despite his greenness to the company, he was an experienced engineer, though there is some contention as to why he was put in charge of the Old 97 train that day. Broady was experienced on this particular route and knew the dangers that he would encounter, especially on the Stillhouse Trestle that led into downtown Danville, but up to this day, he had only handled heavier freight trains which handled much differently from the light mail train he was running on this day.
Despite the opening lyrics of the song, in which Broady is ordered to pull the train into Spencer, North Carolina on time, he was given orders in Monroe to do the opposite. The orders noted that the train was going to run late and that he was not to make up for the lost time.
Broady was joined by fireman Albion C. “Buddy” Clapp and a student fireman, John Madison Hodge, who would feed coal into the engine when necessary. As a result of their hard work, these men would often be covered in soot and grease from the coal, thus the descriptive line in the song, “his black, greasy fireman.” With Broady maintaining the operation of the engine, the train’s conductor would oversee the operation of the train as a whole, and this task was given over to John Thomas Blair. Broady’s crew was completed by the addition of a flagman, James Robert Moody, who rode in the final car and would signal to oncoming trains if the train stalled on the track.
To handle the mail, eleven postal workers were on board. They were Jennings Dunlap, Percival Indermauer, John H. Thompson, Paul M. Argenbright, W. Scott Chambers, Daniel P. Flory, Napoleon C. Maupin, Frank E. Brooks, Charles E. Reames, Louis Spies, John L. Thompson, and express messenger W. R. Pinckney. The train pulled out of the station at Monroe before safe locker Wentworth Armistead could get off. He was in charge of securing the trains’ safes and remained at the station to ensure that the train’s safes could not be opened and robbed en route. The addition of the safe locker brought the number of souls aboard the train to eighteen.
What may have transpired in the cab of Old 97 as it traversed the rolling landscape south towards Danville is unknown. In the intervening years since the accident, much blame has been heaped on Steve Broady, with many (including the song) describing him as reckless and negligible. Historian Larry Aaron seems to think that this estimation is incorrect, and that he was well respected by his peers and that the blame for the incident may be due to his inexperience at handling such a train rather than his carelessness.
Closeup of the route of Old 97 on an 1895 Southern Railway map. The train travelled the line between Washington to Spencer, North Carolina, located a short distance north from the Salisbury stop on this map.
The railroad’s southern route into Danville was precarious as the train would have to navigate the Stillhouse Trestle over Stillhouse Creek just before crossing the Dan River. On the approach to the trestle, the train descended a grade of about three miles and could build up a decent amount of momentum. At the side of grade was a sign warning the engineer to slow down and the railway’s rules (which Broady had been tested on) required the engineer to slow the train’s speed on trestles and bridges. The trestle immediately curved to the left, bringing the train parallel with the river and the mill complex that occupied the river’s north bank. After following the river for a short distance, the train would then cross a bridge over the river and directly into downtown Danville.
The Danville Station as seen in 2012. This station would have been the next stop on Old 97’s journey on Sept. 27, 1903, but it crashed before it arrived. Photo by See This, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Even before the train entered North Danville, residents near the track noted the train sped by unusually fast.
One local resident, E. H. Chappell, later described his experience years later saying that he had gone out to his well for a drink of water.
It was a roaring sound and while I couldn’t see the track from where I stood because it ran through a deep fill at that point, I saw a great pillar of billowing dust, moving very fast. It was the train, of course, and she was making a weird, unusual noise. I remember I turned to my mother, who was with me, and said, “She’ll never make the trestle.”
A later author described the piercing scream of the train’s whistle as she roared towards the Stillhouse Trestle.
The whistle…gave a series of blasts on the approach to Lima and finally set up a constant broken wailing down the three-mile grade to the Dan Valley. It was the death cry of a runaway locomotive and it chilled the hearts of all who heard it. People turned in their yards, ran out on their porches, stopped still along the streets in North Danville. All eyes turned in the direction of the approaching train. With bated breath and anxious hearts, they waited.
This 1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Danville shows the curve of the Stillhouse Trestle just north of the Riverside Cotton Mill. This is the curve where the accident occurred.
Of what happened next, one eyewitness simply said, “It just split the curve.” Steve Broady likely realized that the train was moving far too fast to make the curve and desperately tried to apply the brakes and put the engine into reverse. But, it was all too late. The engine jumped the curve bringing all four cars with it as it arced through the air and into the ravine 75 feet below. The engine landed first digging into the ground and the cars splintering on top. The final car rolled onto its side though it remained mostly intact. In a heartbeat, ten lives were snuffed out while all the others were injured, some critically. Within days, one of the injured men passed away bringing the casualties to eleven.
Locals, having heard the tremendous crash, began to rush to the scene. The alarm bell of the mill next to the trestle was sounded and church bells began to ring. Crowds, many dressed in their Sunday best, were greeted by broken and twisted wood and metal piled in the ravine with smoke and steam filtering out from the buried engine. Victims, their bodies mangled and some even scalded by the steam, lay entwined with the wreckage, with the living crying out for aid. The canaries that had been confined to a crate in the express car were flitting about the wreckage lending bright pops of yellow to the surreal scene.
Locals, still in Sunday clothes, look at the train wreck. Photo courtesy of the Encyclopedia Virginia.
A rescue effort was soon underway as locals began to sift through the wreck searching for the living the dead. Steve Broady was found near the creek at the bottom of the ravine, rather than still in the engine as the song describes. One of his rescuers reported that:
The skin came off his arm just like a chicken that’s scalded. Somebody came from the houses above, and two or three men helped me pick up the engineer and put him on the bank. He drawed two or three breaths and that was the end of him.
Historian Larry Aaron notes that:
The sights and sounds on that Sunday afternoon destroyed not only the train but also whatever charm the day would have held. The crashing sound and shaking ground; the dust, debris, smoke and fire; the mournful cries of wounded and dying men; the sheet-covered bodies on mattresses; the wagons hauling the wounded to the Home for the Sick; the proud locomotive steeped in mud; and the postal cars shredded like paper—all created a surreal scene. For a host of onlookers, that serene Sunday afternoon became a nightmare to remember.
As darkness fell in Danville, “flares and lanterns hung on trees and poles” lent their light to the tragic scene as well as the harsh light of an engine that was parked on the trestle. Within hours of the disaster crews began to repair the trestle, completing their work in time for a train to pass the next morning. The engine was pulled from the dirt and set upright. After major repairs, it was returned to service.
The wreck of the Old 97 in 1903. This photo was taken shortly after the engine was pulled into an upright position.
The memories of that horrible day have lingered in Danville for more than a century. The song “Wreck of Old 97” came into existence some years after the tragedy along with questions over its authorship. Musicians continue to cover the jaunty song, repeating the sad story of Old 97’s tragic jump.
In the decades that have passed since the accident the trestle has been torn down and the mill next to it was destroyed by fire recently. Riverside Drive, which carries US 58 BUS, now runs parallel with the Dan River and speeds right by the overgrown ravine where the wreck occurred. US 58, along with US 29, is one of the two major US highways serving modern Danville. In 1947, a historical marker was placed next to the busy road describing the crash as “one of the worst train wrecks in Virginia history.” It also incorrectly reports the death toll as nine.
Perhaps echoes of the wreck continue to be experienced today? A short time after the horrid events, locals began to report that lights were seen in the ravine, moving like the lanterns brought out by rescuers as darkness fell. Even as the spot became treacherous and overgrown, the lights continued to appear. Some reported to still hear the shriek of the train’s whistle on the disaster’s anniversary without a train nearby.
In his Ghosthunting Virginia, author Michael Varhola describes a trip to Danville to check out the site. As he spoke with several locals, he was met with no reports of activity at the site nowadays. Perhaps the echoes of that tragic day have begun, like memories, to fade into the mist of time?
In total, eleven men who lost their lives in the wreck and they were: Joseph Andrew “Steve” Broady, John Thomas Blair, James Robert Moody, Albion C. “Buddy” Clapp, John Madison Hodge, John L. Thompson, Paul M. Argenbright, W. Scott Chambers, Daniel P. Flory, Louis Spies, and Wentworth Armistead.
Sources
Aaron, Larry G. The Wreck of the Old 97. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2010.
Taylor, L. B., Jr. The Ghosts of Virginia, Vol. II. B. Taylor, Jr.: 1994.
Varhola, Michael J. Ghosthunting Virginia. Cincinnati, OH: Clerisy Press, 2008.
The Wreck of Old 97. The Historical Marker Database (HMdb.org). Added 25 August 2021.
“Wreck of the Old 97.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 9 July 2022.
A sign for US 29 in downtown LaGrange, GA. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
In the early 20th century, American roads were a mess. In the late 19th century, the railroad was really the only means to travel throughout the country as roads weren’t well-maintained or even necessary except for local transportation. With the advent of the automobile however, “good roads” (as the movement was called) became increasingly crucial. Car owners began to band together to form auto clubs to create roads for themselves.
In the 1910s, these auto trail organizations and automobile clubs reached even further to create the Lincoln Highway, one of the earliest transcontinental highways stretching from New York’s Times Square to San Francisco’s Lincoln Park. With its popularity among travelers and local governments alike, the idea was expanded to the South with the creation of the Dixie Highway, which originally connected Chicago to Miami. Not only did this open up the South to tourism, but it brought industry as well.
While this new network of roads was increasingly useful, the Federal Government began investigating ways to expand and organize this network. State roadway standards were introduced in 1914 with the creation of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO). Their standards eventually evolved into a U.S. Highway system over the next decade. This system, now nearing a hundred years old, continues to expand to this day.
U.S. Route 29, a north-south highway, connects Pensacola, Florida to Ellicott City, Maryland. Along its route it passes through a number of major cities including Auburn, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Greenville and Spartanburg, South Carolina; Charlotte and Greensboro, North Carolina; Danville, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, and Fairfax, Virginia; Washington, D.C.; and some of DC’s Maryland suburbs before its termination in Ellicott City, a suburb of Baltimore.
For me, US 29 has a very personal connection. On its route through my hometown of LaGrange, Georgia, it passes many landmarks from my youth and is the road on which I currently live. It also figures into several stories that I now tell on my Strange LaGrange Tour. For a few years I have wanted to take a big road trip to visit many of the haunted places I have written about and considered that driving the length of US 29 would make an excellent trip. This article covers many of the haunted locales I plan to visit should the trip come to fruition.
This article is intended to provide links to places I have written about elsewhere on my blog along with several brief entries and other suggested locations that I may cover in the future. This article is not intended as a static article, but will change as I cover more locations along the route of US 29.
US 29 begins at the intersection of North Palafox Street and Cervantes Street (US 90 and 98), just north of downtown Pensacola. While there are no haunted places (that I know of) at that immediate intersection, less than a mile south is a cluster of locations. The Saenger Theatre (118 South Palafox) is located at the intersection of South Palafox and Intendencia Street. A block south of the theatre is a cluster of hauntings around Plaza Ferdinand VII (which is haunted) that includes the T.T. Wentworth Museum, the portion of Zaragoza Street between S. Palafox and S. Baylen Streets, the Quayside Art Gallery, Pensacola Children’s Museum, and Seville Quarter. Just east of the Plaza is Old Pensacola Village including Old Christ Church (405 South Adams Street).
Saenger Theatre, 2010, by Ebyabe. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
The entirety of US 29 in Florida in within Escambia County. After passing through the town of Century, the highway continues north into Escambia County, Alabama.
East Brewton, Alabama
After crossing over the creepily named Murder Creek in Brewton, US 29 runs through East Brewton which features a haunting at the old Fort Crawford Cemetery (Snowden Street).
Andalusia, Alabama
US 29 bypasses downtown Andalusia which features a haunted jail. The Old Covington County Jail can be viewed from North Cotton Street behind the courthouse.
Troy, Alabama
As the highway makes its way through downtown Troy, Alabama, it passes near the first of many major institutions of higher learning, Troy University. Two dormitories on the campus, Pace and Shackleford Halls, feature ghost stories.
Pace Hall, 2017, by Kreeder13. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Bullock County Courthouse, 2000. Photo by Calvin Beale for the US Department of Agriculture.
Tuskegee National Forest
North of the city of Tuskegee, US 29 heads through the Tuskegee National Forest, a site of high strangeness that includes tales of ghosts and Sasquatch sightings.
Auburn, Alabama
As US 29 approaches Auburn, it joins with I-85 to bypass the city, though there is a concentration of haunted places in and around downtown and Auburn University. Two locations at the university have been covered in this blog including the University Chapel and the Ralph Brown Draughon Library, both of which are located on College Street.
South College Street facade of the Draughon Library at Auburn University, 2017. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
Auburn Train Depot
120 Mitcham Avenue
Railroad passengers entering and leaving Auburn have passed through one of the three buildings that have occupied this site since 1847. The first building was destroyed during the Civil War while its replacement was destroyed by fire after a lightning strike. The current building was erected in 1904 and served as a rail depot until 1970. The building was left empty in 2003 after being used as a real estate office for some 20 years. The building has served as a restaurant for a number of years and rumor has it that staff has experienced a number of strange doings.
There is a legend about the building recounted in Haunted Auburn and Opelika regarding a young woman who met a young man here. The couple began to meet regularly despite the insistence of the young woman’s father that she would marry another man. The young couple planned to elope, but the young woman’s brother thwarted the plans and killed his sister’s lover. She then threw herself in front of an arriving train. Her wail intertwined with the train’s whistle are supposedly still heard.
Sources
Cole, Ashtyne. “City plans to renovate historic train depot.” Auburn Plainsman. 12 June 2014.
Serafin, Faith, Michelle Smith and John Mark Poe. Haunted Auburn and Opelika. Charleston, SC: History Press, 2011.
Woodham, Brian. “Restaurant coming to Auburn Train Depot.” Auburn Villager. 3 December 2014.
Opelika, Alabama
As US 29 (still concurrent with I-85) passes into Opelika, it crosses AL 169, which has had some activity.
Opelika Chamber of Commerce, 2016. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
Spring Villa, 2010, by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
The exit with US 280 provides access to Spring Villa(1474 Spring Villa Road), a most unusual plantation home with ghosts and other strangeness. At the next exit, US 29 becomes independent and heads north through Chambers County.
Langdale Auditorium stands next to Lafayette Lanier Elementary. Photo 2016, by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
The city of Valley extends up to the state line with West Point, Georgia. Just before 29 crosses that line it passes through the community of Lanett with its Oakwood Cemetery(1st Street) which is home to the dollhouse grave of Nadine Earles.
West Point, Georgia
West Point Post Office, 2012, by Rivers Langley. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
In downtown West Point, the Depression era U. S. Post Office(729 4th Avenue) may feature a few spirits. The area also has a small Civil War-era fortification, Fort Tyler, which was constructed to protect an important railway bridge over the Chattahoochee. The four-hour siege that was fought here in April of 1865 left many dead, including the commanders of the fort. These men were buried in Pine Wood Cemetery which is passed by US 29 as it leads north to LaGrange. Both of these locations may be home to paranormal activity.
LaGrange, Georgia
I have been a resident of LaGrange since early childhood and this town instilled in me a love of ghost stories. For the past couple years, I have been providing a ghost tour of downtown, the Strange LaGrange Tour, on which I feature the LaGrange Art Museum(112 Lafayette Parkway). Along its route through town, 29 passes LaGrange College with its antique centerpiece, Smith Hall. My tour discusses Smith Hall, Hawkes Hall, and the College Chapel, which are all spirited places. The college’s theatre, Price Theatre, off Panther Way, has an assortment of theatre ghosts.
Smith Hall ,LaGrange College, 2010, by Lewis Powell IV, all rights reserved.
Atlanta, Georgia
In its journey between LaGrange and Atlanta, the road passes a number of haunted locations, though I have yet to cover any of them in this blog.
Fox Theatre, 2005. Photo by Scott Ehardt, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Downtown Atlanta has a number of haunted places on its famous Peachtree Street including the Ellis Hotel(176 Peachtree Street), the Fox Theatre (660 Peachtree Street), and Rhodes Memorial Hall(1516 Peachtree Street) all of these are covered in my “Apparitions of Atlanta” article.
Oakland, 2011. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
Stone Mountain, Georgia
Leaving DeKalb County, the road enters Gwinnett County near Stone Mountain, home of Stone Mountain Park(1000 Robert E. Lee Boulevard). Not only have there been spiritual encounters on the slopes of the titular monadnock, but the park’s Southern Plantation has a number of spiritual residents inside the historic structures.
Stone Mountain, circa 1910, from “Granites of the Southeastern Atlantic States,” by Thomas Watson.
Duluth, Georgia
US 29 runs south of Duluth where the Southeastern Railway Museum(3595 Buford Highway) is located. With a large collection of historic train cars and related things, a number of encounters have been reported within these cars.
President Warren G. Harding’s personal Pullman Car, The Superb, now housed in the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. Photo 2007, by John Hallett. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Watkinsville, Georgia
As the highway leaves Gwinnett County, it passes through Barrow and into Oconee County. South of US 29 is the small town of Watkinsville, where the creepy Eagle Tavern(26 North Main Street) has served customers, and now museum patrons, for more than 200 years.
The Eagle Tavern. Photo by Lewis Powell, IV, 2010, all rights reserved.
The original Tree That Owns Itself shortly before it fell in 1942. Postcard from the Boston Public Library.
US 29 passes through three more Georgia counties: Madison, Franklin, and Hart before crossing into South Carolina. Unfortunately, I have little information on these counties’ haunted places.
The Westin Poinsett Hotel, 2012, by Bill Fitzpatrick. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
Spartanburg, South Carolina
Wofford College is one of several institutions of higher learning located in Spartanburg, nearly all of which have spirits. Wofford’s Old Main Building is the haunt of several spirits.
Old Main Building, 2010, by PegasusRacer28, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Gaffney, South Carolina
On the way into Gaffney, US 29 passes the small town of Cowpens. A major battle of the American Revolution took place about nine miles north of town and the battlefield is known to be haunted.
In 1968, a serial killer operated in Gaffney and some of the sites where he dumped his victims’ bodies are known to be haunted. These sites include the Ford Road Bridge over Peoples Creek.
From Blacksburg, South Carolina, US 29 continues across the state line into North Carolina. I have not covered any locations in Cleveland or Gaston Counties. In Charlotte, I have covered one location, the Carolina Theatre(224-232 North Tryon), though I intend to rectify this in the near future.
The hulking remains of the Carolina Theatre in 2015. Renovations have since started. Photo by Fortibus, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Salisbury, North Carolina
Some years ago, I discovered an 1898 article from the Salisbury Sun describing the appearance of a ghost on Fisher Street. In addition, I discovered that the building at 122 Fisher Street has been reported as haunted. These locations were written up in my article, “’His ghostship’—Salisbury, NC.”
Salisbury National Cemetery 202 Government Road
The treatment of prisoners by both the Union and the Confederacy during the Civil War was atrocious and certainly has led to very active haunted locations where the prisons operated. This is certainly evident in Salisbury where an old textile mill was turned into a prison to house 2,000, but eventually held some 11,000. With a number of deaths occurring on a daily basis, a small cemetery was established a short distance from the prison which in 1874 became the Salisbury National Cemetery. According to Karen Lilly-Bowyer, a retired educator and the operator of the Downtown Ghost Walk, the area around the old prison site and the cemetery are quite active and a Union sentry has been spotted around the trenches where the prisoners were interred.
Salisbury National Cemetery. Photo by David Haas for the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
Sources
Lilly-Bowyer, Karen. “A war-haunted landscape.” Salisbury Post. 22 January 2011.
Greensboro’s Carolina Theatre in 2008. Photo by Charles Brummitt, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Yanceyville, North Carolina
As it heads north out of North Carolina and into Virginia, US 29 passes through Caswell County. East of its route is the county seat of Yanceyville with its lovely and haunted Caswell County Courthouse(Courthouse Square).
The Caswell County Courthouse, 2009, by NatalieMaynor, courtesy of Wikipedia.
The wreck of the Old 97 in 1903. This photo was taken shortly after the engine was pulled into an upright position.
Lynchburg, Virginia
While I have yet to cover Lynchburg in my blog, there are a number of haunted locales here, especially on the campus of Randolph College.
Sweet Briar, Virginia
US 29 passes through the small college town of Sweet Briar, home to the private women’s college Sweet Briar. From the tales that have been told on campus, it seems the founders of the college have remained here.
Charlottesville, Virginia
The highway bypasses Charlottesville on its west side passing near the haunted University of Virginia, home to several haunted places including the Alderman Library. Southeast of downtown is one of this city’s most well-known monuments, Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello (931 Thomas Jefferson Parkway), where the former president may continue to reside. Nearby is also the old Michie Tavern(683 Thomas Jefferson Parkway), where Jefferson and his friends often dined.
Monticello, 2013, by Martin Falbisoner, courtesy of Wikipedia.
As US 29 passes out of the city, it comes near a haunted former bed and breakfast, the Silver Thatch Inn(3001 Hollymead Drive).
Brandy Station, Virginia
This small community in Culpeper County was the scene of one of the largest cavalry engagements of the Civil War in 1863. A small home near the Brandy Station depot was commandeered as a hospital after the battle. The patients left graffiti covering the walls and perhaps spirits as well, giving this home the nickname Graffiti House(19484 Brandy Road). A small, historic church, Fleetwood Church, nearby and the Brandy Station Battlefield are also known to be paranormally active.
Graffiti House, 2013. Photo by Cecouchman, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Warrenton, Virginia
This small, Fauquier County town is home to several haunted places, including the Black Horse Inn, the Hutton House, and a home called “Loretta.”
Manassas National Battlefield Park
US 29 cuts directly across the Manassas Battlefield in Prince William County. Among these farm fields, hills and wooded copses, two major Civil War battles–the First and Second Battle of Bull Run or Manassas–were fought. The first battle was fought on July 21, 1861, and the second battle was fought on August 29-30, 1862. As a result, this battlefield is known to be quite haunted. New York Avenue, so named for the New York regiments that were decimated here during the second battle, is known to be haunted by the apparition of a Zouave soldier.
The Old Stone House on the Manassas Battlefield is one of the most recognizable haunted places here. Photo by William J. Hamblin, courtesy of Wikipedia.Memorial to the 5th New York Regiment near the New York Avenue section of the battlefield. Photo 2006, by AndyZ, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Arlington, Virginia
Occupying the grounds of Robert E. Lee’s former estate, Arlington National Cemetery provides a resting place for some 400,000 soldiers from every conflict since the Civil War. With so many dead, there are ghost stories regarding the cemetery, Arlington Mansion, and the surrounding area.
An 1864 photograph of the Custis-Lee Mansion or the Arlington Mansion, which is now a centerpiece of Arlington National Cemetery.
Washington, D.C.
US 29 enters the nation’s capital on the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge over the Potomac River. It continues onto Whitehurst Freeway in Georgetown before crossing Rock Creek and becoming an elevated freeway. This point over Rock Creek is significant for two reasons, the bridge itself is haunted and this crossing is at the beginning of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
The C&O Canal as it moves through Georgetown. This photograph is looking east from the Wisconsin Street Bridge. Photo by AgnosticPreachersKid, 2008. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
The canal, which was begun in 1828, was meant to provide transportation of cargo from the end of the navigable portion of the Potomac to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the end, cost overruns ended the construction in Cumberland, Maryland, 184.5 miles from it’s beginning. From the end of construction in 1831 to 1928, the canal was used primarily to ship coal from the Alleghany Mountains to Georgetown. The “Grand Old Ditch,” as it was called, lay abandoned for many years until ownership was overtaken by the National Park Service. The canal is open as a National Historic Park with a trail alongside it. From end to end, the canal is lined with legends and ghost stories.
Along its route through Washington, US 29 comes near many haunted places. For a list of places covered in this blog, please see my District of Columbia Directory.
Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County is a suburban county providing suburbs for Washington. While I don’t have any haunted places listed along US 29, there are several places close by. See my article, “Montgomery County Mysteries.”
This city’s historic district lies in the valley of the Patapsco River, with Main Street running downhill to a bridge over the river. A tributary, the Tiber River, meets the Patapsco near here and problems with severe flooding have been experienced at points along Main Street. One of these recent floods is discussed in my article on theJudge’s Bench(8385 Main Street). Housing shops, boutiques, and homes, many of the buildings along Main Street also house spirits.
An illustration of the Patapsco Female Institute in 1857, from The Book of Great Railway Celebrations of 1857.
A few months ago, I accepted a retail job at the Atlanta airport. As a resident of LaGrange, I’m required to drive an hour to Atlanta and take MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) to the airport because there is no airport employee parking. Most of my rides on MARTA have been uneventful, though in August I had an odd experience.
Interior of a MARTA car. Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, October 2018. All rights reserved.
I finished working a mid-shift at my store and boarded a MARTA train to start my journey home around 4:30 in the afternoon. Sitting down in my seat, I pulled out my phone to check Facebook like everyone else. The ride from the airport to the first station, College Park, was unremarkable and I did look up as the train pulled into the station. As usual, there was a group of people waiting to board the train when the doors opened.
As I watched, a young man boarded the train and I noticed he was oddly dressed. His clothes were flashy, and his hair was tied up in a scarf on his head. He walked down the aisle and sat in the seats opposite me. I glanced over and noticed he was wearing house shoes and carrying a bunch of shopping bags, notably a bag from Steve Madden. The man slumped down in his seat and appeared to doze off.
Not wanting to stare, I looked out the window a bit and looked at my phone as the train rumbled on to the East Point station. As the train ground to a stop, I started to get up, but as I turned my head, I was shocked to see the seats across the aisle from me were empty. Looking back through the car, no one had their hair tied up in a scarf, in fact, there were only three or four people.
I wondered how I could have missed him getting up and moving. With all his bags surely, I would have noticed if he changed seats. I got off the train still looking for the oddly dressed man with the sensation that I may have just had a paranormal experience. I also wondered at the bigger question: does Steve Madden have an advertising contract with the spirit world?
Riding alone in a MARTA car. Is there anything behind me? Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, October 2018. All rights reserved.
While it may seem odd that a spirit might be haunting something as ordinary as a MARTA train, this is not the first story I’ve heard about MARTA. In 2011, Creative Loafing published an article covering Atlanta hauntings. The article opened with a story from an office-worker who had an experience on MARTA in the 1980s.
After leaving work early on a winter afternoon, the office-worker took a seat on MARTA heading home. He was listening to music on his headphones when he noticed movement next to his reflection in the window. He felt a bit annoyed that a “40ish, black-haired man in a business suit” was sitting next to him on the almost deserted car. He turned his head to look at the passenger and the seat was empty.
The office-worker thought the incident was curious but was not frightened. Still he wonders what exactly he saw. I’m left wondering about the gentleman with his hair tied up in a scarf and the Steve Madden bag. Did we experience a perfectly normal experience that simply appeared out of the ordinary or were these experiences paranormal? I’m not sure we’ll ever really know.
Source
Homan, Curt. “The hauntings of Atlanta.” Creative Loafing. 27 October 2011.
N.B. Last Thursday, I did a presentation on Atlanta ghosts for the Atlanta History Center’s event, Party with the Past. The presentation began with the 1908 New York Times story of a ghost in the governor’s mansion. This has since been broken out into its own article here.
Atlanta doesn’t have a very good record of preserving its historic environments. Historic preservation not only preserves the historic fabric of a location, but the spiritual fabric as well. That can most certainly explain cities such as Savannah, New Orleans, Charleston, SC and St. Augustine—cities known for their ghosts.
Disturbances in the historic fabric of a location can also uncover spirits. This is evident throughout the Atlanta area as the sacred ground where many gave their lives during the Civil War is developed. One of the better documented occurrences of this phenomenon took place on a development called Kolb Creek Farm in Marietta, just north of here.
Valentine Kolb House, 2011, Photo by Lewis O. Powell IV, all rights reserved.
This house and a small family cemetery on Powder Springs Road in Marietta are all that remain of the Valentine Kolb farm where a minor battle was fought June 22, 1864, a battle leading up to the vicious Battle of Kennesaw Mountain which would be fought a few days later.
Behind this house, the farm fields have been developed into subdivisions. A couple, James and Katherine Tatum, purchased a home in the neighborhood in 1986. After a quiet first year in the house, the couple began to experience unexplained activity. The television show Unsolved Mysteries publicized their story and they were interviewed by Beth Scott and Michael Norman, interviews that were included in their 2004 book, Haunted America.
The first encounter occurred early one morning. “My husband and I had gotten up to go to the bathroom at the same time, about 2:30 AM. Our bedroom is upstairs. My husband used the bedroom bath and I went into the hall bath. The bathroom door was open. I saw a man walking down the hall in front of the open bathroom door. I assumed it was my husband looking for me since I was not in bed.”
After calling out to her husband with no response, Mrs. Tatum returned to the bedroom where she found her husband and asked if he’d been in the hall. He had not and he was disturbed by the idea that someone else might be in the out. Climbing out of bed, he retrieved his gun and searched the house to no avail, no one else was there.
Mrs. Tatum realized that the figure she had seen was wearing a hat and a coat. “I came to realize that when the man walked past me there had been no sound, as you would normally hear whenever someone is walking down the hall.”
For the Tatums, this would begin a series of odd events including something playing with an electric drill, pocket change on a dresser jingling on its own accord and a small bell ringing by itself.
Scott, Beth and Michael Norman. Haunted America. NYC: Tor, 2004.
Apparently, this isn’t the only modern house with spiritual residue possibly left over from the war, homes and businesses throughout the area have activity as well.
Among the multiple stories coming out of the area, one recent story stands out.
On the night of October 8, 2007, a gentleman and his teenage son were driving across one of the many roads that cross the battlefield at Kennesaw Mountain. They spotted something about to cross the road and were amazed to see a horse with a Union cavalry officer upon it appear in their headlights.
“I quickly locked on my brakes as the horse proceeded to come right in front of us,” the anonymous driver told 11 Alive News, an Atlanta news station. The father and son watched in awe as the figure moved across the road and through a fence opposite before fading into the night.
Keep in mind, as you traverse Atlanta’s battlefield, keep on the lookout for ghosts.
Sources
Crawley, Paul. “Ghost rider at Kennesaw Mtn.?” 11 Alive News. 1 November 2007.
The Civil War left a heavy, spiritual pall around the city, a pall that has been detected by visitors to Atlanta’s great necropolis, Oakland Cemetery.
Moving on to a happier place on Peachtree in Midtown, we find ourselves at the Fabulous Fox which may possess a handful of “phantoms of the opera.” When this building opened, Christmas Day, 1929, one of the local papers called it “a picturesque and almost disturbing grandeur beyond imagination.” The grandeur, however did not last and the theatre floundered during the Depression. Under threat of demolition in the 1970s, Atlantans banded together to save the theatre and it has since been restored.
Fox Theatre, 2005. Photo by Scott Ehardt, courtesy of Wikipedia.
Some of the mysteries among the minarets include the holy grail of ghost hunting, a full body apparition seen by an investigator. An investigator with the Georgia Ghost Hounds, Denise Roffe (who, incidentally, wrote a book on the ghosts of Charleston, SC), had to use the restroom during an investigation. In the dark she found her way to the ladies restroom and upon entering a stall was shocked to see a young woman. “She was just standing there wearing a long, period dress and a hat.”
Startled, she screamed and other members of the group quickly joined her but the image was gone.
Another popular story involves a man hired to stoke the theatre’s furnaces. He lived down in the basement with a cot and his few, meager possessions. After his death, he has possibly continued to stay in the basement. He is said to like women and when they enter the basement they will, at times, detect a peaceful and relaxing atmosphere while men are sometimes harassed by the spirit.
Underwood, Corinna. Haunted History: Atlanta and North Georgia. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 2008.
Just before Peachtree crosses over I-85, visitors to the city may be surprised to see what appears to be a castle looming above the road. Built with granite supplied from Stone Mountain, Rhodes Memorial Hall was constructed in 1904 for local furniture bigwig, Amos Rhodes. After serving as the home of the State Archives the building played a haunted house for a few years in the 1980s and 90s, despite actually being haunted.
Rhodes Hall in an undated photo from the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
The house was investigated by the Atlantic Paranormal Team from SyFy’s paranormal investigation show, Ghost Hunters. To aid in this endeavor, the show’s producers called in the Real Housewives of Atlanta to perhaps scare up a few ghosts with their attitudes and fashion sense. While some scant evidence was uncovered, Rhodes Hall got to show off its ghostly activity which includes the typical unexplained footsteps, doors opening and closing by themselves and apparitions, though with a sardonic sense of humor that includes a bouquet of dead flowers supposedly being left on the desk of a staff member in the house.
Sources
Merwin, Laura. “Ghost Hunters meet Real Housewives of Atlanta and nothing.” com. 2 December 2010.
Rhodes Hall. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 28 October 2013.
In terms of Atlanta hauntings, these are just the very tip of the iceberg. While some of these hauntings have been documented, I believe there are many more that should be documented from private homes to office complexes.
A MARTA train passes by Oakland Cemetery. Photo 2011, by Lewis Powell IV, all rights reserved.
I’d like to leave you with one final story. Ghosts do not just appear in old houses or buildings, but they’re also found in planes, trains and automobiles. Curt Holman in an article a few years ago from Creative Loafing Atlanta relates a story from MARTA, the Metro-Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority which operates a system of trains and buses throughout the city.
Holman relates that a young man riding on a nearly empty train on a winter’s afternoon. The young man was absorbed in the music he was listening to on his headphones and was startled to feel someone sit next to him. Looking at his reflection in the window, the young man saw a man in his 40s with dark hair and wearing a business suit sitting next to him.
Turning to speak to the man he found the seat empty.
Thank you very much and support your local ghosts!
Sources
Holman, Curt. “The hauntings of Atlanta.” Creative Loafing Atlanta. 27 October 2011.
Please pardon the lack of posting. I’m currently working not one, but two, jobs and my time has been very limited. When I do have a little time, however, I’ve been working on research.
Most of my research could be termed as arm chair ghost hunting. I start by scouring the books in my library, then move to other media sources—periodicals, newspapers and trustworthy blogs—looking for more information. To keep up with these disparate sources, I have spreadsheets—one for each of the 13 states I’m working on—listing hauntings by locations, with other pertinent information like address, city and county, then a column of references—with page numbers for books.
It’s a decent system that works for me. If I’m in need of finding haunted places in a specific area, I can sort the listings by city or county. When I need to find something I can simply pull the book from the shelf or go to the computer file and find it. Though it does take time to scour each book or article and add that information to the spreadsheet.
I have neglected Georgia for awhile, while working on other states. Though, it is hard to neglect my home state for too long. Jim Miles has just published three marvelous books on Georgia’s Civil War ghosts: Civil War Ghosts of North Georgia, Civil War Ghosts of Atlanta and Civil War Ghosts of Central Georgia and Savannah, and I’ve busily gotten these entered into the spreadsheet.
They’ve inspired me to start a heavy duty search for Georgia ghosts and I’ve found many interesting hauntings. Here are a couple of some of the more interesting hauntings.
Southeastern Railway Museum 3595 Buford Highway Duluth
According to a 2008 article from Accent Gwinnett Magazine, a few of the pieces of rolling stock in the museum’s collection contain ghosts. The “Washington Club” car from the old Atlantic Coast Line Railway is the supposed residence of a man in old fashioned attire. The story contains reports of two separate visitors encountering the mysterious man.
President Warren G. Harding’s personal Pullman Car, The Superb, now housed in the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth. Photo 2007, by John Hallett. Courtesy of Wikipedia.
President Warren G. Harding’s personal Pullman sleeper, The Superb, is also housed here and quite possibly houses a restless spirit. During a presidential cross-country tour in 1923, Harding collapsed and died in San Francisco. The Superb transported his body back to Washington.
The museum was founded in 1970 by the Atlanta chapter of the National Railway Historical Society. The grounds occupy some 35 acres and displays nearly 90 items of rolling stock. A quick search reveals that in the past the museum has operated ghost tours of its haunted collection.
Sources
Bieger, Emily. “Mysterious man from days gone by.” Accent Gwinnett Magazine. July-August 2008.
Southern Railway Museum. “About.” Accessed 31 August 2013.
Southern Tailway Museum. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 31 August 2013.
The Superb. Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 31 August 2013.
Louisville Market House West Broad Street at Mulberry Street Louisville
As to whether the old market house in downtown Louisville is haunted remains to be seen, I did come across an article about an investigation conducted there in 2006. The organization that investigated, the Georgia Ghost Society, no longer has a website and is presumably defunct, like many paranormal organizations. Therefore, there’s nothing readily available on what the group found during their investigation.
Market House, 1934. Photograph by Branan Sanders for the Historic American Buildings Survey, Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
The building itself is quite intriguing. Since its construction towards the last years of the 18th century, the market house has seen the sale of many things including slaves. The building was constructed during the few years that Louisville served as a capital of Georgia from 1796 to 1806. Under the building’s ancient roof is a bell that was originally sent by Louis XVI of France (for whom the city is named) to a convent in New Orleans. On its journey, it was supposedly captured by pirates and sold in Savannah.
Sources
Ellison, Faye. “Ghost society hopes to stir up spirits at Market House.” The News and Farmer. 26 October 2006.
Workers of the Writers’ Program of the WPA in the State of Georgia. Georgia: A Guide to its Towns and Countryside. Athens, UGA Press, 1946.
